Cricket: Anderson wanted to be considered for England captaincy

England's record wicket-taker in Tests was not considered for the captaincy this year, putting James Anderson's nose out of joint somewhat.

James Anderson believes he could have made a successful England Test captain, suggesting he was disappointed not to be considered for the role before it was handed to Joe Root.

Alastair Cook stepped down as skipper after a 4-0 thrashing in India and Root was installed as his replacement in February.

Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad were also thought to be high on the ECB's shortlist and the former has been appointed Root's vice-captain.

England's record wicket-taker in Tests was seemingly not in the frame and Anderson believes, at 34 years old, age counted against him.

"I don't know if I'd have taken the captaincy but it would have been nice to have been considered for it," he said.

"From a personal point of view I'd have seriously thought about it, but from the outside looking in I'd have thought: is this actually where the team needs to go - with a 34-year-old as captain?

"I don't know how long I'm going to keep going for and in the grand scheme of things it makes sense for a younger guy to do it.

"But most of the fast bowling captains I've known have been pretty successful and I don't know why it is that more fast bowlers aren't given the opportunity to do it. I'm all for bowlers being captains."

Anderson is happy to assist Root through his captaincy, and the veteran bowler believes the new skipper is well-equipped to succeed in the job.

"Joe's got everything he needs to be a captain," Anderson said. "He's matured a hell of a lot and he's become a father as well, which will help that process.

"He's got a good cricket brain, he's had a couple of years as a vice-captain and he's comfortably our best player.

"People will worry whether his batting suffers but he's dealt with anything that's been thrown at him so far and I think he'll cope with that in the same way.

"I will buy into whatever Joe wants from the team. If he wants me to change my bowling, I'll discuss it with him."